


Familiarity Adorned in Blue

by honda_cvic



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Ableism (the words stupid and dumb are used), Blaytz is gay and good and i love him, Blue helping Lance realize all the blue paladins are gay af, I named the Galra servant i hope that's alright, Insecurity, Kissing, M/M, Questioning, Relationships between royalty and servant, Romance, Season 3 Spoilers, Self-Doubt, bi lance, holograms, post-season 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-11 23:31:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11724861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honda_cvic/pseuds/honda_cvic
Summary: When the Blue Lion summons Lance to her hanger in the dead of night, the last thing he expects to find there is his predecessor on board with a male Galra servant.“Blue, I mean, it was really cool to get to see your old pilot but, what were you trying to tell me?” He looked back at the space, frowning slightly, trying to piece together why, of all things, Blue had decided to show him that particular scene.





	Familiarity Adorned in Blue

It had been some time since Lance had set foot in the Blue Lion’s hanger. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to visit Blue, wasn’t that he didn’t miss her, but Allura was the Blue Paladin now and who was he to get in the way of Blue and Allura’s newly-forming bond? Lance wasn’t upset; he could never be upset with Blue, and yet the way her particle barrier had kept him out that day, the way she left him literally begging her to let him in, telling her that he had to help his friends, the team needed him, Keith needed him… No, he wasn’t upset. Still, setting foot in the hanger again wasn’t easy, even if he missed her very much.  

It was late, and the castle buzzed sleepily around him. Lance had grown used to the feeling of the massive ship breathing along with them, buzzing in perfect unison with its inhabitants. Now, it reflected the stillness of the night, the quiet of it all, as everyone else slept and dreamed. It was so quiet in space. It had taken so much getting used to. Yet Lance was still here, and here he was, standing in the hanger of the Blue Lion, taking in the sight. The particle barrier was down.

He shouldn’t have been that surprised, all things considered. Blue had summoned him here, after all. It hadn’t happened in a while, yet when Lance awoke in the dead of night with a jolt, he knew right away that he needed to go see her, that she had something for him. He had thrown on his jacket and headed down to the shuttle, trying to ignore the heavy feelings of nerves and guilt that badgered him at the thought of being in that hanger again. Was she mad that he was piloting Red now? Did she want Lance to pilot her again? What about Allura? His stomach had dropped in unison with the lift, which whirred too loudly in the silent buzz.

Now there he stood, eyes flickering over the Lion’s exterior, expecting the barrier to go up again at any moment. It didn’t. Slowly, hesitantly, Lance took a few more steps towards her. Her eyes were unlit, and she sat perfectly still, looking sleek and powerful. Lance licked his chapped lips, shoving his hands deeper into his jacket pockets. “Hey, ol’ girl.” He didn’t get a response. He did what he was best at: he kept talking. “I thought I heard you call for me. Do you want me to board?”

Sure enough, at the last question, the Lion’s eyes lit up, and slowly, mechanically, Blue lowered her head to allow her former Paladin to board. Lance tried to ignore the lump that was forming in the back of his throat, tried to suppress the relieved shaky sigh that escaped anyways. “Ok, got it. It’s, it’s good to see you again, Blue.”

Hastily wiping at his eyes, Lance made his way inside, a wave of familiarity and, by extension, comfort immediately washing over him. He had grown used to piloting Red in the past few months, sure, but Blue was like a second home. Lance felt his nerves easing, a grin returning to its natural place. “Did you miss me?” he chimed warmly, running a hand along the interior walls, marveling at the control panels he had memorized so long ago. “That’s why you called me here, for a little hangout sesh’?” He slid easily into the pilot’s seat. “I missed you too, buddy.”

And he placed his hands on the controls.

And nothing happened.

The Lion was still lit up, still responsive, but the controls remained off, the display blank, acting only as a window to the hanger through the Lion’s eyes. Lance frowned, fighting off doubt. “Okay, so we’re not going for a ride. That’s fine, that’s fine, I don’t mind chilling here.” An obvious lie, but Lance took his hands off the controls anyways, leaning back in the seat. He heard the Lion humming, still on, still active. “I know you wanted to show me something,” Lance started again, lowering his voice. “Can you tell me what it is, Blue?”

The cockpit was flooded with light.

Lance covered his eyes on instinct, blinded by the suddenness of it. He heard something mechanical whir to life, something that sounded like it was spinning. After a second the light receded enough for Lance to bring his arms down from his face, blinking away spheres of color that clouded his vision. He squinted at the control panel. Nothing had changed. He looked out at the hanger. Nothing. He turned around in his seat to look behind him.

And he nearly jumped out of his skin.

He nearly jumped out of his skin because there were two people inside the Blue Lion that had not been there before and they were two people that Lance had never seen before in his life. With a panicked squawk, Lance reached for his Bayard before realizing he didn’t have it with him. Snapping his attention back to the two intruders, Lance bared his teeth, leaping out of his seat. “Who are you and— _”_ He cut himself off when he finally got a better look at the two.

Holograms, he realized suddenly, based on the light filtering down onto them from three projectors on Blue’s ceiling, arranged in a triangle. The machines spun like old film reels in movie theaters, whirring distantly, as the image of the two figures flickered in a way that instantly struck Lance as archaic and lost, like buried treasure. He relaxed, staring in awe at the holograms, which appeared almost three-dimensional in the space they occupied. The Blue-turned-Red Paladin then heard another machine whir to life, this time by the communication devices Lance had used dozens of times to talk to his other teammates while piloting his Lion. This time, though, it wasn’t to transmit a communication. It was to play a recording.

“ _It’s bigger on the inside than I imagined,_ ” sang the recording, sounding old and distant, like the holograms. Lance watched as one of the figures, _(a Galra, Lance realized suddenly,)_ opened his mouth to speak, lining up perfectly with the recording. While it was odd to hear the voice not coming from the speaker’s mouth, it was clear it was the Galra who had just spoken. Lance watched with fascination.

 _“Thanks,”_ hummed the other hologram, a taller, broad-shouldered figure adorned in blue from a race Lance didn’t recognize. _“Blue’s a real beaut, and she flies great, too.”_

The Galra took a few steps closer to the cockpit, looking around in clear awe, while the one in blue _(no, Lance noticed, blue-skinned, sleek like a shark)_ stood by, arms crossed, watching with a half-grin on his face.

“Were these people here?” Lance found himself whispering to Blue, as if not wanting to disturb anyone, like in a movie theater. “Is this from the past?” He got no answer, and the recording continued, unperturbed.

The Galra man ran a hand along one of the walls, marveling at the side-controls, in a way Lance had just done moments before. Suddenly, though, the man drew his hand back, as if he had been shocked. _“I— listen, I really don’t think I should be in here. If Zarkon found out—“_

Lance tensed at the name, breath hitched in his throat, just as the blue man with the sly grin stepped forward and placed an easy hand on the Galra’s shoulder, who seemed to relax slightly at the touch. _“He’s not going to, and even if he does, these Lion’s ain’t in his jurisdiction. I don’t care if he’s our leader, his planet’s dumb rules don’t apply here.”_

The Galra chuckled. Lance’s head spun. _Our leader?_ His thoughts flew, soaring up and over the story Coran had told them recently, every word of which Lance had tried to grasp onto, as if to memorize them, as if that would make Zarkon or Lotor’s plans any more intuitive, provide them with any clues. They needed clues. They needed clues about the Galra, about Allura’s father, about the Paladins, the Lions, their roles as Defenders of the Universe, the point of it all; it had kept Lance up that night, racing to remember every detail of what Coran had relayed to them, every detail of the original Paladins’ story. Lance’s blue eyes flickered over the alien with the easy smile. _Blaytz,_ he heard in Coran’s voice, _from Nalquod._ Lance had taken special care to remember that one. He remembered the way his heart jumped at the name, the name of the first Blue Paladin, Lance’s predecessor. Coran hadn’t said much else about him, but Lance held onto every word that he had. And now he _knew_ that’s who this was, standing inside Blue with an easy stance and an even easier smile, looking at home and happy. Something stirred in Lance’s chest.

  _“So, should we take her for a spin?”_ Blaytz’s voice chimed up over the recording. He hadn’t let go of the Galra’s shoulder yet.

  _"I’d like to, really I would,”_ the other man started, turning back to face the Paladin. _“But I’ve got a shift starting soon, and I… I don’t want to make anyone suspicious.”_

Blaytz’s face fell, but then that playful smile was back, and Lance watched as the original Blue Paladin took a step forward, closed the gap between the two holograms, and rested both arms easily on the Galra’s shoulders. Their foreheads were practically touching. _“Well I guess that means you’ll just have to come back another time.”_

The Galra returned the grin. _“I guess it does, then.”_

 And as their forms flickered in the light of the three projectors, and as the recording faded to silence in the form of dull static, Blaytz had closed the remainder of the gap between the two of them by leaning in, head tilted; their eyes closed; their lips met, and they remained that way for one drawn-out, numbing tick before they pulled back out of it slowly and smiled at each other, not easy or sly or playful but soft and familiar.

The projectors went dark and silent, and Lance was left standing in the resting Blue Lion.

For a moment he just stood, staring into the empty space where the figures had last been, the figures of his predecessor Paladin and a Galra servant, their lips momentarily locked together. He felt Blue hum below him. “Why….” he started unsurely, glancing back at the cockpit. “Blue, I mean, it was really cool to get to see your old pilot but, what were you trying to tell me?” He looked back at the space, frowning slightly, trying to piece together why, of all things, Blue had decided to show him that particular scene. “Was that Galra someone important?” he wondered. Maybe he was someone that the Paladins knew: perhaps a general pre-promotion, a monster pre-mutation? No, something about that felt wrong, though. Blue hummed again. Lance took a breath and faced the obvious. “You clearly wanted to show me more than just my predecessor. You could have shown me any recording of him, I’m guessing. But you showed me this one.” This one of him kissing a Galra, and a male Galra, no less. Lance didn’t feel uncomfortable with this knowledge, the concept was nothing new to him, nor did he feel surprised, though he was surprised that he felt no surprise. Why didn’t it surprise him? He frowned. He had never met Blaytz. He likely never would meet Blaytz. But there must have been some connection between Lance and him, if they had both piloted the Blue Lion. Or was that wishful thinking?

 _Think, Lance, why else would Blue show you this?_ They mentioned Zarkon, keeping it a secret from him; had Zarkon found out? Did this event contribute to Zarkon’s downfall, and the downfall of the original Paladins by extension? That didn’t feel right, either. He thought back to the familiarity, the smile, Blaytz’s easy steps and soft eyes post-kiss. Why why _why_ was this familiar? Why was it not a surprise and why was it so comforting and why—

Blue hummed again beneath him, more urgently this time. _Closer,_ as if to say. Lance chewed his lip, looking back at the space the holograms had been. “Blue,” he started, sounding small and far away, “I’m really glad you showed me this, but I don’t know—”

 Once again, the Lion’s interior lit up as the projectors and recordings whirred to life.

Lance was ready this time, blinking to adjust his eyes to the lights and watching as the holograms activated again, flickering and dancing through the Lion’s space. It was the same two figures, though the mood was very different than the previous recording.

 _“You know I don’t think that,”_ Blaytz’s voice crackled over the recording, his hologram looking smaller than it had before, meeker, arms wrapped carefully around his middle.

 _“How can you not!?”_ Even though the Galra was smaller in stature than the Paladin, his presence was larger, angrier, though Lance heard a quiver in the recording’s voice that he didn’t think was due to the quality of the recording. _“You are a king, you are a Paladin of Voltron, you are a universe-renowned_ hero _and I’m just—”_

 _“You are just Zell and I am just Blaytz,”_ the Paladin cut him off with a sense of urgency. He unfolded his arms as if he wanted to reach out but hesitated, balling his hands into fists instead. The Galra, Zell, went silent. _“That’s all I am, that’s all you are. Anyone who says otherwise is a fool and not worth our time.”_ His face softened slightly, and he took a slow, cautious step closer to Zell, who watched him with patient but weary eyes. _“I wish I could do more, you know. If it were up to me, I’d abolish every stupid rule Zarkon has in place on Daibazaal.”_ He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. _“I love Zarkon, he is a dear friend of mine, but we are very different types of kings. And I would… I’d risk it all for you, you know. I’m a Defender of the Universe but the truth is, you_ are _my universe.”_ Their eyes met, and something passed between them, unspoken. Zell was the one to close the gap between them this time, throwing his arms around Blaytz in a tight embrace, which the Paladin returned happily.

 _“Thank you,”_ Zell said into Blaytz’s chest, the recording muffled and soft.

Blaytz planted a kiss on the Galra’s horned head. _“I know this is hard to believe but I don’t care if you’re a servant, I don’t care if you’re Galra, and I don’t care what they say about you and I. We’re equals. I promise you, we are equals.”_ And with that, the projectors once again flickered off and the static of the recording faded to nothing, leaving Lance alone in the Blue Lion once again.

A warmness was flooding Lance’s chest, something akin to pride. Forgetting for a dobash that he was summoned here to learn something, he let himself get lost in the knowledge that his predecessor was _good,_ genuinely good, and apparently very much in love. There was something comforting about that, something secure and safe in that knowledge. He felt special, knowing this secret his predecessor had kept, a beautiful secret that Blue had borne witness to and was now sharing with Lance. He wondered idly for a moment if he would ever get to feel that way, too.

He blinked. _Wait, what? Where did that come from?_ He frowned, shaking his head slightly. Focus. Have to focus on what Blue wants me to see. He laid out the leads. “Alright, the Blue Paladin and a Galra spent time here. They cared about each other and Blaytz wanted to abolish some rules that didn’t make them equals. Is that right?” Blue hummed. “But there’s, I don’t know, there was something familiar about it, and it feels… really nice to know? Is that weird?” He swallowed, suddenly feeling self-conscious for a reason he couldn’t quite identify. He thought back to Blaytz, how his face shifted from easy, sly, soft, cautious, happy, and how it all seemed so familiar. Blue continued humming. They had both piloted Blue, so perhaps it wasn’t wishful thinking to see the similarities between the two Paladins. Maybe that was it: Lance had seen himself in those shifting expressions, the easy optimism, the sudden smallness and doubt when confronted with the Galra’s worries and accusations. The moment that recognition hit him, Lance realized that it made perfect sense. “We were similar,” he said aloud. “Me and Blaytz, I mean. I think I, saw myself in him?”

 The Blue Lion’s whole body shifted slightly, parts clanging as joints crashed against each other, causing Lance to stumble forward slightly. The Lion roared, loud enough that Lance worried it would wake the others. He wouldn’t know how to explain being aboard a Lion that was no longer his to pilot. “Alright, alright!” he called in an attempt to calm her down. “That was either a really bad answer or right on the nose, got it!” He regained his balance, huffing. “So, we’re similar. But you still picked this to show me. Are you saying,” Lance paused. He thought of the familiarity, the comfort, the softness of it all. The words spilled out of his mouth faster than he could process them. “I’d like to do that, too, that’s what you’re telling me.” It wasn’t a question, nor an exclamation; it was just a hurried, jumbled thought and yet when he said it Blue roared again and Lance grabbed onto the back of the pilot chair to keep his balance.

It was true, wasn’t it? Lance stood numbly, staring without seeing down at the floor. “Keith,” he said aloud, barely above a whisper, and then louder: “Aw, _quiznak,_ ” at the same time that Blue let out a third and final roar.

  _Keith,_ his rival and current leader with his stupid mullet and stupid fiery impulse, with his stupidly soft smiles and stupidly soft eyes that melt you whole when he looks at you, with his cocky grin that could turn cautious so quickly, and then so familiar and comforting, like there was a secret only the two of you knew, only the two of you could ever understand. A look, a glance, an eye-darting once-over _soft and familiar._ Keith, who made Lance question things he thought he knew, cause Lance doubt that took the form of hurried glares and petty rivalry, Keith who was half-Galra and if anyone had anything bad to say about that Lance would not hesitate to shut them up. Keith in the bedroom that day, doing his best to reassure Lance that they were _not_ better off without him, Keith in the castle control room later, telling Shiro that he would stay behind so Shiro could pilot the Black Lion, never once asking Lance to give him Red back. Keith, stupid, stupid, stupidly kissable lips.

Lance sunk into the pilot seat, staring blankly out the window, mouth hanging open in a way that so not subtle and so very Lance. “ _Quiznak!_ ” he repeated. “Is that why—?” He didn’t know how to finish the question, but he knew the answer was yes. Yes, that’s why I showed you that. Yes, that’s why it was familiar to you, yes that’s why it was comforting, yes that’s why you weren’t surprised, yes you silly boy it’s because you very very much would like to kiss that boy the way your predecessor did, to tell him you’re equals and hold him and feel so very much at home.

“Oh,” was all Lance said after a long dobash of sitting and staring.

He stayed and sat and stared out the cockpit window into the hanger for a long time. He didn’t know how long, he had a lot to think about, but by the time he stood up to leave he felt the castle buzzing with early-morning life that he was usually not awake to feel reverberate through his marrow. Blue’s lights flicked off on Lance’s way out, and when he was back in the hanger he turned to look at her again, towering above him, beautiful and massive. Her eyes were no longer lit, but the particle barrier was not up yet. Lance looked her over for a moment before letting out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding and smiled. “Thanks, old girl. I’ve got a lot of thinking to do but, I’m really glad you showed me that. I owe you one.”

He shoved his hands in his jacket pockets, turned on his heels, and started towards the exit. He heard the particle barrier activate behind him but he didn’t bother looking back. It was a new day and he was armed with new knowledge and the images of familiar smiles to equip as goals.

**Author's Note:**

> Big thanks I everyone on tumblr who liked the idea and pushed me to write it! My tumblr is blue-eyed-cow if you ever want to chat.


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